


The Ticking of our Hearts

by TheStarrySkiesOfPalaven



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Love, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 03:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10376595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStarrySkiesOfPalaven/pseuds/TheStarrySkiesOfPalaven
Summary: Some bonds transcend time, space, and universes in general.... and in some universes, those bonds are visible to the naked eye.Max and Chloe can attest to that.(Pricefield Soulmate AU)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MistressSiM](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressSiM/gifts).



> SO!! This is a Soulmate AU of sorts, and was written for the amazing [Sim](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressSiM/pseuds/MistressSiM), who's a giant cinnamon roll despite her denials and an amazing writer (check her ouuuuut). <3
> 
> Concept: the marks are timers with a days:hours:minutes:seconds format that tick down to the first meeting between soulmates, and then start ticking up after it. They're hidden until a certain age.
> 
> Warnings: one vague allusion to child abuse and neglect

It was a quiet morning on October 7th, 1998 when two children named Max and Chloe met for the first time. As far as first meetings between a 3-year old and 4-year old went, there wasn't much out of the ordinary to remark on.

The two children weren't concerned with anything but their shared toys as they started playing with each other, this exciting new stranger they'd met being the focus of their attentions.

* * *

 

_"Did your mom tell you about the numbers we saw? My mom said I'm 'too young' or whatever." Chloe whispers to Max, annoyed, as they hid inside their pirate fort._

_"Yeah!" Max says, nodding fervently. "You know all the talk about fated people on TV shows?"_

_Chloe nods, her eyes wide._

_"Mom said that the numbers are kind of a time until you meet your soulmate!" Max whispers, awed. "They're supposed to appear when you turn 18 years old!"_

_"Oooooooooooh... that sounds so important though; why didn't mom want to tell me?" Chloe says, frowning slightly._

_Max shrugs helplessly. "Dunno..."_

_Chloe mulls over this for a few minutes, then brightens up. "You know what?!" she asks Max excitedly._

_Max's eyes widen slightly, alert. "What?"_

_"We should keep ours a secret! We're pirates, after all, and we only trust each other as Captain and First Mate!" Chloe says, brandishing her wooden sword and pointing it into the air. "We're only ever gonna show them to each other and our fated! A true pirate's way! Arrrrrr!"_

_A big smile spreads across Max's face slowly._

* * *

 

It was July 22nd, 2003 when Chloe finds a collection of romance literature and all its subsets; including many heroic and ordinary tales of fated people finding each other. Sometimes there were two, sometimes more, sometimes tragically none... but the stories enraptured her and she shared it all with her best friend, Max.

As they read and were fascinated, a hidden pair of timers ticked happily.

* * *

 

_"Oh my fated, let us seal our union with this fish!" Chloe says mock-officially, brandishing a plastic fish in Max's face._

_"Indeed, let us make this of **fish** ial!" Max says with a grin._

_Chloe gapes in disbelief, before putting a dramatic hand on her forehead. "I can't believe you! You dare ruin a pirate wedding with puns?! I'm afraid we can't work out, fated or not!"_

_Max takes a deep breath, dropping to her knees and letting out a long "Nooooooooooooooo!"_

_They hold the poses for all of three seconds before bursting out laughing, holding on to each other for balance._

* * *

 

It was in the early morning of March 11th, 2012 when Chloe Price woke up from a fitful sleep and the nightmares plaguing her mind. She looked around, disoriented, not knowing what exactly caused her to wake up. It's only when a prickling sensation escalated along her left arm that she looked down at it, her breath catching.

Oh. She was 18.

She clenched her hand and gritted her teeth as she closed her eyes, willing the numbers to go away. If she ignored them they couldn't tell her the truth that she had suspicions about for months.

They didn't go away, though.

And so, Chloe mustered up the courage to look at them, somehow knowing somewhere deep inside that she wouldn't see them counting down.

She opened her eyes.

They were indeed counting _up_.

_4903:22:10:51_

_4903:22:10:52_

_4903:22:10:53_

_4903:22:10:54_

Chloe took a shuddering breath and started crying softly. That was... way too many days.

She always had a feeling Rachel wasn't her fated, no matter how many times she told herself to wait for July for Rachel's mark to appear, that she loved Rachel, that Rachel loved her, to wait to see the numbers, that not all fated couples were together and that non-fated could most certainly find happiness together, but--

Having it confirmed only made it more painful.

When she did the calculations on her laptop to get the exact time and date her mark signified, her tears intensified with raw grief and anger and more despair than she could ever remember feeling.

A long, long time ago, a promise was made.

Chloe remembered it, and she wanted to die with how much her heart hurt.

She started wearing her long-sleeved leather jacket constantly from that day on.

* * *

 

_"No, no, no! Please don't!" Max whimpers, sobbing. She tries to hide under her blanket, as if it would shield her from her parents' forlorn gazes._

_"Maxine--" Vanessa interrupts herself, then starts speaking again. "Max, honey... we_ have _to go."_

 _"No, we don't! I wanna stay here! I can't leave!" she yells desperately, continuing to sob. "I wanna stay with Chloe! I_ need _to stay!"_

_The two parents look at each other, resigned to what they'd have to resort to._

_Max, meanwhile, continues her denials and flowing tears, sobbing for her best friend's loss._

* * *

It was a stormy morning on September 21st, 2013 when Max Caulfield woke up to a very pronounced itch on her right arm. She became alert immediately, knowing what it was.

It was something she had been waiting for.

She rapidly her arm up to her eyes, watching the numbers slowly form. Anxiously biting her lip, she waited until they were fully written out.

Max couldn't breathe for a moment.

_5462:23:02:59_

_5462:23:03:00_

_5462:23:03:01_

_5462:23:03:02_

There were counting upwards.

That meant--

Max hurried to her laptop, going to a date and time calculator site.

Ten minutes later, Vanessa Caulfield found her daughter hunched over her desk, crying and muttering a constant stream of apologies and hollow sobs the likes of which she hadn't heard in years.

Max remembered a promise; a painful and joyful memory that intensified her sorrow.

She doesn't let her mom see her mark, despite her insistence, and starts hiding it immediately.

* * *

_"Why won't you show us? Why?!" Vanessa Caulfield asks, hurt all over her face._

_"It's been_ months _, Chloe; you have to show us!" Joyce Madsen says, David standing at her side._

_"No, mom."/"No. Fucking. Way." say two girls simultaneously in response to increasingly invasive questions._

_Max Caulfield doesn't think her parents will ever accept that the promise she made meant more (so much more) to her than their approval._

_Chloe Price doesn't think her mother will ever care about her again, what with letting step-fucker get away with everything he does to Chloe; all in the name of some ridiculous "happy family" ideal. Trusting her with anything is utterly pointless._

_They both steel themselves again, in different ways._

* * *

It was the afternoon of October 7th, 2013.

The lighthouse was bathed in a golden glow. At its base, two teens were sitting on a bench, talking about the eventful day they lived through.

Sudden time travelling powers and bittersweet reunions of estranged-yet-somehow-not best friends and slowly rekindling bonds and violent, entitled rich kids with murder on their mind and running from an abusive step-father would wear anyone out.

It's when Chloe noticed Max scratching lightly at her hoodie's forearm that another, far more sensitive topic presented itself.

"... covering it up, huh?" Chloe said in a casual voice.

(It wasn't casual at all; they could both tell)

Max gulped, nodding slowly. She looked at Chloe, meeting her piercing gaze.

"We made a promise, didn't we?" she whispered.

Chloe's heart throbbed with more pain than she expected, and she glanced away.

They sat in silence, each waiting for the other to speak (to take the step) with the sunset illuminating them... but it wasn't time yet, and then prophetic visions and _snow_ of all things interrupted and they forgot for a moment, their minds focused on Max's new powers and massive weirdness happening in Arcadia Bay.

* * *

_"I'm enrolling in Blackwell."_

_Somehow, Ryan and Vanessa Caulfield expected those words to come sooner or later._

_Max Caulfield gazes upon them with an immovable stare._

_They cave, as Max expected. Whether it's because they know they can't stop her, or because they want to soothe their consciences somewhat... Max doesn't care which it is, honestly._

_She's doing what she knows is right._

_Max dreams that night; dreams of what and_ who _she's going back for._

* * *

It's the night of October 9th, 2013 and Max and Chloe had just giddily broken into a swimming pool.

They giggled quietly as they turned the swimming pool's lights on and whispered about the things they'd found snooping in the lockers and suddenly they were taking their clothes off and--

Their arms.

Max and Chloe both hesitated slightly before giving each other the smallest of smiles, understanding and accepting and even slightly _knowing_.

They took their clothes off fully.

Standing there in their undergarments, they gazed at each other and basked in the moment. They stepped towards each other at the same time, holding up their hands and intertwining their fingers, as is customary; they both knew what each other's numbers would say.

It was merely a formality to even look at them.

_5480:15:20:34/5480:15:20:34_

_5480:15:20:35/5480:15:20:35_

_5480:15:20:36/5480:15:20:36_

_5480:15:20:37/5480:15:20:37_

Chloe gulped anxiously, a giddiness she never thought she'd feel again suffusing her. She squeezed her fingers around Max's.

Max smiled softly, squeezing back.

A few tender moments passed before Chloe grinned mischievously, suddenly pulling the squealing Max with her into the pool, both of them laughing happily as they chased each other through the pool and washed away the trappings of the past, both recent and distant; setting off on a new journey together.

A journey of unity.

* * *

_"... come on, we should buy more! You know how much Ori loves rice pudding." Chloe Caulfield-Price says to her wife, grinning._

_Max Caulfield-Price snorts with a smile of her own, adjusting her glasses. "And I say you just want to get back in her good graces after you tripped and spilled juice all over her friends; being the 'uncool' mom sucks, I know."_

_"And what if I do?" Chloe replies, raising an eyebrow._

_Max rolls her eyes and bumps shoulders with Chloe lightly, affection suffusing every movement. Chloe bumps back, still grinning, and continues grading her students' papers while Max turns back to a particularly gorgeous (in Chloe's correct opinion) photo that she took yesterday._

_Their bared arms flow contentedly, side by side._

10438:09:41:22/10438:09:41:22

10438:09:41:23/10438:09:41:23

10438:09:41:24/10438:09:41:24

10438:09:41:25/10438:09:41:25

_Fin._


End file.
